Fishers Island Club – Fishers Island, New York

The Fishers Island Club was on my short list when I started The Bottom Groove. I’ve always been interested in how a historic course such as this was constructed during the time period.

After reading the write up Andy did at The Fried Egg and taking a closer look at the pictures Jon Cavalier did that were included in the write up, I became a little more intrigued as to how the course was not only routed, but how elevation played a role in the design.

Fishers Island Club Aerial

Seth Raynor, who is high on the list as one my my favorite Civil Engineers, was the architect behind Fisher Island Club and the club opened in 1926.

Contours

As an attempt to get more detail from the data, I took a look at the topography of the golf course using both a 1-foot and 1/2-foot contour interval.

Looking at the 1-foot contours, its almost impossible to see anything besides some of the natural terrain changes that were incorporated into the golf course.

Fishers Island Club – 1-foot contour interval

After generating contours at 1/2-foot intervals, it was easier to see more of the finer detail incorporated into the golf course.

Fishers Island Club – 1/2-foot contour intervals

At this contour interval, it is easier to visualize how much slope much of the golf course has.

Color Ramp

Like all courses in the past, I try to provide a different visualization if contours aren’t your thing. For Fishers Island Club, I did both a color ramp with and without contours.

The red colors signify the higher points of the golf course while the blue colors are the low points of the course, or in this case, sea level.

Fishers Island Club – Color Ramp, No Contours

To provide some guidance as to where the contours are in relation to the high and low points, I also generated an image with the 1-foot contours included.

Fishers Island Club – Color Ramp with 1-foot Contour

Take a look for yourself and let me know what you think of some of the fine grading, brings out some of the best features at Fishers Island Club.